Gron was the Captain of the sleuth of Aledran warriors. He was fourteen years old, with a shaggy brown mane and a long scar that stretched from his chin through to his left shoulder. He stood eight feet tall on his back legs as his heavily muscled front legs hung by his side. Gron was considered a dwarf by his clan as he was several feet shorter than the average Aledran bear. Jericho had met emissary bears in the past when they had visited Silent Ridge to see his father, but never Gron. Jericho looked curiously at his father, wishing to ask why he addressed this mighty bear as ‘Dwarf.’ As far as Jericho could tell he was almost as big as any other bear he had ever seen and just as fearsome looking. Perhaps now was not to time ask why he was called ‘Dwarf.’ Red Whiskers also had the same thoughts as Jericho, but from twenty feet further away under a bush.
Gron had led the sleuth to fight for Bragus and Blackpaws in the battle ten years ago when they drove the Wildpack from the moors. Gron laughed in a deep rough voice. He was very jovial and extremely fond of the wolf king. ‘Owl seekers of the Phantom Forest Brood have been following you for some time and alerted us of your coming, and this must be your son Jericho! Look at him, all grown up into a fierce scout!’ Jericho bowed to acknowledge Gron as he had heard numerous stories from his father about Gron’s fearlessness in battle. Gron leaned forward towards Jericho and appeared to examine him carefully. Then without warning, he gave him a good friendly buffet across his rib cage, knocking him to one side and slightly winding him. Ayah Cloudchaser screeched with laughter and nearly fell from his perch off the Muntjac antler. Jericho sprung to his feet and gave a low growl. Blackpaws laughed as Gron stood up straight and let out a healthy guffaw. ‘He’s a good one,’ said Gron. Blackpaws replied, ‘yes, he did prove himself back there at Duskfall Bridge against some goblins.’ Gron grunted, then scratched the side of his head questionably and spoke in a severe tone of voice.
'Goblins! In the Duskfall lands? Where is Prince Lothian? 'The king replied, ‘Lothian is aware and taking further precaution. It’s a long story, and we need to talk to Bragus.’ Gron nodding turned to the elf and said ‘Princess, the Shah Bragus waits to discuss with you and Blackpaws a matter of grave importance.’ He suddenly exclaimed as if only noticing for the first time, the ponies. ‘What’s this, ponies as well?’ Gron looked over the company to see Raphos and the others hanging back in the shadows. ‘They have had an encounter with the Wildpack in the Elvene lands and also come to Aledran seeking haven.’ The Princess said grimly. ‘Well, well, well,’ replied Gron, ‘What an odd bunch, come along.’
Several hours later the company entered the Vale of Aledran, as a large moon cast a pale white light onto the surroundings. The mighty Oaks and Ash’s now thinned out to solitary trees here and there, and open grassland stretched into the far distance. Scattered white and yellow wildflowers spread out before them, shining in the moonlight. In the close-range rose a tall line of black hills, with higher distant peaks behind these marking the beginning of the Scarbia Ranges. A wide-open valley stretched directly in front of them, seemingly cutting a full wide path through the hills. Along the edges of this extensive valley, the trees of Aledran forest gave way to tall Pines that emitted a strong sweet scent as they neared. Limber Pines and Whitebark Pines appeared to be the dominant conifers laden with Pine Nuts. These supplied the bears with the majority of their staple diet along with a few fish caught in the many tributaries that lined the floor of the Aledran Vale for miles. The sweet nectar from the giant yellow bee was also a treat. However, it was only found in hives hanging from impossible places high on the valley walls. The younger, more adventurous bears were the primary harvesters as they would dare one another to brave the cliffs and the hard stings of the guardian bees. These feats of bravery were also an advantage when charming an adoring young sow
Jericho had never been here before, and he looked curiously at what appeared to be hundreds of black holes at varying heights set into the rock face on either side of the valley. The valley narrowed slightly, and Jericho could see clearly that the black holes were caves of varying sizes. He saw bears in the distance coming and going about their business and preparing for the night. Higher in the cliffs of the valley his keen eye caught more odd movement until he realised that they were birds in crevasses and rocks also preparing to settle for the night. It was here that the silver Falcon Ayah Cloudchaser bid his goodbye to the company and left his perch on the muntjac antler to rapidly ascend to a great height near the cliff tops to join his fellow Falcons.
The Falcon order also shared Aledran with the bears as they were firm allies. The atmosphere in the vale was mild. Warmer than anything Jericho and Red Whiskers had sensed before and they felt slightly uncomfortable, being used to the colder lower lands of the moors. Jericho raised his nose and inhaled deeply, scenting the air which was blowing gently through the valley coming from the unexplored east. Blackpaws seeing this explained. ‘The warm winds come from many months travel away through the Great Rift in the Scarbia range to the other side, where I have heard hot deserts exist.’ Gron added ‘I have never been there either. Why bother about it, we have everything we need here.’
The Vale that was home to Aledran was situated in the broader pocket of the ‘Great Rift.’ The view from the air is described by the Falcons as if the mountains had parted almost evenly to expose the valley and enable something big to pass through. The company left the full path on the valley floor and turned onto a smaller trail to their left that seemed to wind up towards the left facet of an enormous mountain jutting out and above the valley wall. The Glistening River was much narrower here as it was fed by many tributaries coming from all directions. Gron continued ‘Ayah often sends his enduranceFalcons east through the Great Rift and they fly for days before returning with reports of seeing nothing except a mountain lion or the odd mad goat. Bragus has never been eager to send an expedition that way and believes that our charge has always been to live in the vale and guard Aledran Mountain. Of that, I tend to agree’.
Blackpaws recalls Bragus telling him years ago about a previous Shah of Aledran who had sent several expeditions of emissaries east into the Great Rift. Their missions were to pass through the heart of Scarbia to reach the other side. To date none have ever returned, it was thought they either perished or met with an unfortunate fate. Anyhow rumours were that only the distant sand domain lay on the other side and it was an inhospitable land inhabited by mindless savages. ‘Nothing had ever come this way, so why should we bother them?’ Bragus would often remark. Blackpaws agreed. Their lives were complicated enough looking after their own lands and affairs. Also, it was a full-time enterprise watching and guarding against the witches’, goblins, and the Wildpack. One could never anticipate their next move. Red Whiskers thought the entire conversation about what lay east of Aledran was strange. If no one had returned from that direction, how did they all seem to guess what existed there? As if reading his mind, Gron said. ‘There are many ancient stories carved into the rock walls of the combs below, some of which relate the state of things in the lands surrounding Aledran.’
The closest edge of the mountain base loomed dark and gigantic. Jericho strained his neck to look upwards but could not see the top which blended into the black night sky. As they passed a clear deep waterhole with several reeds along the side, Gron advised the ponies to stay there and wait for Bragus to seek their audience. ‘I do not think you would be very comfortable climbing the cliff in a short while, nor the confines of the mountain’s many chambers.’ The ponies seemed content to stay behind and settle at the waterhole. Several bears nearby them exclaimed in surprise at seeing the ponies. They were not used to seeing the moor ponies come so far into Aledran. Gron then looked at Karvu the muntjac expectedly, for he towered over the ponies. Karvu snorted and stepped closer to the Princess. The muntjac never left the Princess's side. Gron decided that it would be best not to argue with the muntjac. He shrugged and led the party on, dropping to all fours and lumbering forwards. Soon they came upon l
arge worn stones fashioned to resemble primitive steps hewn into a steep part of the cliff face rising before them.
King Blackpaws and princess Eylon knew the path well as they had travelled it many times in the past. However, to the others, it was a new experience. Gron stopped at the first step and looked up. ‘Aledran Mountain, the stronghold of mysterious treasures,’ he remarked. Princess Eylon added, ‘and more.’ After a short climb, they emerged onto a small open plateau which was on the lower edge of the precipice. A cleft housing an entrance to a big cave was set into the cliff face. The full moon reflected here and there on the stone floor, worn smooth and shiny from years of foot traffic. There were tufts of grass growing wildly around the edge between cracks in the rocks and a single Pine Tree grew precariously over the brink of the plateau. Gron led them under a huge dark grey rock that cleverly concealed the cave entrance. It hung downwards from where it jutted out in the above cliff face with some other huge rocks. From a distance, it blended in with the bluff and its fellow dark rocks that appeared common in these cliffs. The inside of the cave was lined with dry grass and sand and was quite warm underfoot. Jericho peered ahead and could not see the back of the cave or the roof which seemed to stretch upwards out of sight. It gave him the uncomfortable feeling of being in a yawning black chasm. The remote areas of the cave where the moonlight could not reach were dimly lit by strange small pale lights seemingly set into the far walls. Thus, they entered the mountain of Aledran.
Gron led the party towards the left side of the cave, and at once Jericho saw that the mysterious pale lights were from the bodies of sizeable fat glow worms that were crawling about inside small crevices and along thin ledges within the walls. Whether the bears had put them there or that’s where they lived, he did not know. Red Whiskers sniffed cautiously close to one on a lower ledge, and the worm immediately spat out a small stream of pale fluorescent liquid that splashed on the fox’s nose. He jumped back, giving a frightened bark and bumped into the legs of the Princess. The others looked at the fox in amusement who stood frozen with an astonished look upon his face, his nose and part of his neck now emanating a pale glow. Gron grunted in mirth when he saw this and said, ‘The worms are native in these caves. We use them often when we access the lower levels down in the combs where it is darker than the darkest night. ‘Red Whiskers stared at Gron in alarm and whined ‘I make it a livelihood of staying in the shadows and keeping out of harm’s way, I can’t be shining like this!’ He scratched his nose with a small front paw. In horror, he saw that the pad on this paw immediately glowed white as well. ‘Dread not, the radiance of the white worm is only temporary.’ Gron muttered in reply. Bears were funny creatures thought Red Whiskers annoyed. One moment this Gron was walking on all four of his thick stumpy legs, and then occasionally he would stand up on his back two legs like an elf and walk a short distance. He did, however, have large claws on those feet and big white teeth to match. Therefore, thought Red Whiskers, it best not to voice his thoughts out aloud.
Gron had stopped at a large round tunnel leading out of the main cave. He then beckoned the others to follow as he shambled forward. After a relatively short time, the tunnel opened into an enormous well-lit cavern. The distant ceiling and walls looked like a multitude of twinkling stars against a night sky. As in the previous cave, there were the glow worms everywhere providing a dim light. Though the aura from an unknown light source seemed to emit from the distant depths of this cavern. Faraway whirring noises that sounded like a multitude of big insects flying about came to their ears. High above them were many tiny white lights flittering about randomly through the air. Princess Eylon seeing the astonished look on the foxes face said, ‘the glow worms in the walls are the males and the ones flying about are the females looking for prospective suitors.’ Jericho, with a wicked gleam in his eye, nudged Red Whiskers closer to a wall and added, ‘careful little brother or you might soon be the target of a courtship.’ To the hilarity of the others, Red Whiskers, with a look of panic on his face, cried ‘No’ in an injured voice and vigorously rubbed his nose in the sand. The fox and the young wolf then looked on in astonishment as the source of a new illumination made itself apparent. It came from a copse of Pine Trees out in the centre of the cavern. Red Whiskers sneezed creating a small cloud of sand out of his nostrils and exclaimed how odd a thing it was for trees to be growing inside a cavern with no sunlight. No more curious than the fact all the trees looked healthy enough and were quite ordinary looking except that they all seemed to emit a white radiance.
Gron noted the astonishment of some of the party and without stopping commented, ‘The Ring of Pines. ‘Our legend tells of a time when they were outside, and the mountain was erected around them for protection.’ As they neared, Jericho and Red Whiskers noted the dozen huge and fierce-looking bears standing between them and the trees. They were all brandishing a weapon of sorts. Some had long clubs fitted with sharp black stones set in the end and others with curved grey blades and golden handles moulded to fit the bear’s enormous paws. As if their claws and teeth weren’t enough! Red Whiskers thought. What was even more peculiar was that they wore amour! Large ornate silver-coloured breastplates, Shoulder plates, and braces on their muscled hairy forearms. They all wore the same open face rounded helm with a single spike protruding from the top in a mock copy of a Pine Tree.
The breastplate had a simple gilded image of a Pine Tree in front of a mountain which was the Aledran sigil, and a square piece of tightly woven chain was attached to the bottom of the plate and hung below. The fox really was nervous about this whole experience. Gron continued ‘We are above the heart of Aledran Mountain, where the Pine roots go deep into the subterranean warrens where they draw energy from the chambers housing the Wellspring of Power. This is the source of all energies not in league with the Dread-Realm.’ Only the Princess understood what this meant. None of the rest of the party cared to inquire at that point. ‘Oh, and don’t mind the guards,’ he added ‘We have not been attacked for centuries; they are in their posts as a purely traditional role.’ Red Whiskers didn’t think so.
22.
THE ARCUS VOLANTES
After what seemed a reasonably long walk across the floor of this cavern, they eventually passed the Ring of Pines, giving it a wide birth and came to the far wall. A few dark tunnel entrances came into view. Gron chose one that appeared to be reasonably narrow compared to the first one, and Karvu the muntjac was forced to drop his head and tilt it sideways on occasions to fit his antlers through the more confined sections. His handsome antlers glowed with a blue/green tinge in the otherwise black tunnel. The passage opened into a small cave, well-lit by numerous white worms all over the walls and some high in the ceiling. Jericho and Red Whiskers were not as used to as the others in the company of visiting caves like this. It looked ordinary enough, roughly circular and all-natural grey rock with a sandy floor. However, it was the structure roughly in the middle of the room that startled the fox and young wolf. It resembled two miniature Pine Trees, completely silver in colour and of about twelve feet high. They were void of all leaves and with short gnarly knotted trunks leaning slightly towards each other. The boughs and branches on both trees uniformly twisted and entangled with each other to make a rough circular arch between them. They appeared to be made entirely of an unknown white and grey stone that gave off a very low hum as if they were a living thing. The length and breadth of the peculiar object was covered in strange carvings and symbols.
The ‘Arcus Volantes’ commented the Princess. She continued, directing a question to Gron. ‘Why does Bragus wish to meet us here?’ However, Captain Gron had gone, leaving the cave chamber altogether. Perhaps he had gone to inform Bragus of their arrival thought the Princess. She recalled the magic studies with other members of her house. The ‘Arcus Volantes’ was an ageless magic artifact created by an ancient race now long extinct from this land. Known commonly as the ‘Arch’, its known primary function was the ability to shift things instantaneously to o
ther pre-determined locations.
Only a handful was known to exist that were scattered throughout the land. The witches’ possess several hidden deep within their covens, and it is rumoured even the goblins possess one, though the goblins are in league with the witches’ anyway. The properties of the Arch are limited; however, to one-way shifts to certain cairns. Even then, to invoke the ability and shift enchantment required a complex array of rune making, recited cipher, and other magical aid. This particular Arch had been guarded by the bears since their coming to the mountains eons ago. Passed from generation to generation through bear speech is the story of the sleuth and how the first bears were born of mountain fire deep in Scarbia to forever live in and guard the mountains. The company milled around the cave and whispered quietly to one another for a while.
Red Whiskers yawned revealing a small red tongue with a smear of white glow still reminiscent upon it. Both the fox and Jericho kept a respectable distance away from the Arch as neither of them was used to stone trees humming with alien energy. Some moments later, slow, heavy footfalls could be heard approaching the cave from a different tunnel to that which they entered from. The company turned to face the tunnel in anticipation. The familiar, comforting smell of bear came to Blackpaws. He inadvertently waved his tail slightly from side to side. Jericho stared hard at the dark tunnel entrance. If he had ever doubted the stories told by his father, the appearance of Bragus removed such doubt. A dark red bear fully ten feet tall entered the cave and bowed his head slightly to pass through the tunnel entrance into the chamber. He dropped down onto all fours and shuffled in an unhurried pace towards the company. He was thick-set but proportionately built with massive jaws and kind brown eyes. He inhaled loudly with his nose slightly raised to get a sense of who was present in the cave. Jericho was thankful that the wolves were allies with the bears. This was all too much for Red Whiskers who had been rolling around on the sandy cave floor trying once again to remove the fluorescent white worm liquid from his nose. With an almost inaudible yelp of fright, he leapt behind the muntjac, as he had done on many occasions in the last few days. ‘Every bear he meets seems to be bigger than the last one.’ He said to himself.
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